The toughest part of writing about Noelle Lorraine Williams, working under the moniker of REBORN, is figuring out what title to append to her name. For now, we've decided to go with "artist-curator-philosopher-diva" for the Newark-based creative woman. Noelle's latest venture is a cross-disciplinary installation of work that stands at the crossroads of installation, performance, and craft, and extends her fascination with community, the individual, connection, and history. Noelle tells us she has paired up with artist Kevin Darmanie to curate this project.
The exhibition, titled Black Rock: The Metamorphosis of Home from Isolation to Connection Task Force, is scheduled to open for a limited engagement at Newark's Gallery Aferro on 27 January. Noelle and Kevin are open to proposals from artists of the African Diaspora whose work makes the link between the self and the community, however the artist defines community. Noelle specifically states that they are looking for a "call-and-response" aesthetic that will inform the entire exhibition.
A number of artists are already on board, including Nyugen E. Smith, whose work invokes an improvisational and abject future architecture in which all of the world's resources have been exhausted. Nyugen will be creating a large installation of one of his "bundle houses" in the space.
We're also excited about an entire portion of the space that will be devoted to black comics and comics that use black characters. We wonder if something's in the air, for this show will overlap with SMH's black comics show; due to open in mid-November. Noelle and Kevin are looking forward to hearing from artists by 11 November.
